Swings
by serenitysaiyan
Summary: How is it we can remember some things from childhood but not everything? Do your younger memories get erased as new ones are made or did you just not pick them up as easily as one when you were older?


Swings  
Type : One-shot  
Pairings : Draco Malfoy/OC  
Characters : Draco Malfoy, OC, Narcissa Malfoy, Hagrid

The mind works in strange ways. It chooses to forget and remember certain details about our life as well as hide some. You could study one thing and know it for a few days, months or years but then it will disappear. It will pick things up without you knowing and recall it to you in the strangest of ways – either randomly or even in dreams. And then you have memories. How is it we can remember some things from childhood but not everything? Do your younger memories get erased as new ones are made or did you just not pick them up as easily as ones when you were older? But then the mind can make you think you've forgotten and then spring these memories on you randomly…

That's what happened to me one cold winter night, two days before Christmas; the night before Christmas Eve. I couldn't sleep, so I sat at my window seat, huddled in a warm fluffy dressing gown, holding a cup of warm cocoa in my hands. My husband was sleeping soundly, his messy blonde hair spread across the pillow as the moon shone onto his handsome face. I had spent an hour just watching him sleep, still amazed by him and how relaxed he looked while he slept. But that wasn't keeping me up. No, not tonight. Tonight I was being nagged by a memory.

It was a memory from when I was 8. I was still alone then, but I had Hagrid. He would come by occasionally and check up on me and I would cast a spell to hide my magic from the ministry and show him all I had learnt. I admit that I looked forward to those visits, for I never knew how lonely I was until I met him. Hagrid used to take me to the park nearby my home whenever he came over. Coincidently that's where I knew I met Cecila, Morgana and Faith, but, now I see, it's also where I met another person close to me now…one I forgot I had met there at all…

Closing my eyes I replay the memory that I have remembered again in my mind, cursing myself for ever having forgotten it…

_The little eight year old girl skipped along side a man who was easily five, maybe six, times taller than her. Her hair was loose and it swayed across her back and whipped around as she turned to look up at him. "Are we going to the park again?"_

"_Yup. Then I thought about us maybe getting some food. How would you like not to cook for once?" he replied, smiling down at her._

_Her hands clapped together in delight as her eyes sparkled with the prospect of not having to make herself dinner. "Wonderful!" And with that she turned back to skipping and twirling as they made their way to the park._

_Although she was 8 and matured for her age she couldn't help acting like a child when she was with him. Whenever she was around him she retorted back to the mental age of a 6 year old, always happy, always smiling. He took care of her, babied her almost, and though she knew she should be insulted by it, instead she found it oddly satisfying. To be taken care of by someone who cared for you…she hadn't felt that for years. _

_Slowing down a little she waited until they were side by side again before slipping her small hand into his gigantic one. Smiling up at him she began to chatter about anything that came to mind and he just continued to smile warmly down at her and respond, laughing occasionally and once even picking her up and throwing her into the air before catching her and tickling her until the laughter became too much for the both of them._

"_I see it!" she said in a singsong voice, stopping suddenly and pointing towards the park looming ahead of them._

_He laughed, "Well, go on then, I'll be right behind you."_

_With a cry of delight she slipped her hand from his and ran towards her salvation, her long midnight hair streaming out behind her. Her feet followed the familiar path to her favourite equipment – the swings. Making a beeline for her favourite one she did a little hop, skip and twirl, letting her momentum land her on the seat and swing her back a little as her feet left the ground._

_Childlike wonder and joy overtook her as she began to swing back and forth, trying to go so high her feet would touch the sky, her desperate bid for freedom, before falling backwards back down towards cage that imprisoned her. Then she would repeat the process again, propelling herself forward, trying once again to launch herself into the sky. On and on she would try until she was too tired to fight gravity anymore and allowed her body to return to the ground again, leaving her wings for another time._

_Today though, today was different. A young boy with pale blond hair took a seat in the swing next to her and twirled around uncaringly, keeping his eyes focused on the ground. Her curiosity enlightened she slowed down until she came to a standstill beside him, her gaze not leaving him once._

_Roughly his head jerked up and his eyes met hers. Stormy blue to oceanic. "What are you looking at?"_

"_You." She replied, not breaking the gaze. "You look sad."_

_A scowl crossed his young face as he broke the staring contest between them. "I'm fine. And even if I wasn't it's none of your business anyway."_

_Tilting her head sideways she studied him, her face turning serious before going back to a childlike innocence. "Do you want to play with me?"_

"_What?" He asked, looking at her again, one eyebrow raised._

"_Play. Do you want to play with me?" She repeated._

_Folding his arms across his chest he tried to appear superior to her. "I don't play with Muggles."_

_Her eyes opened wide as she reached forward and clamped a hand over his mouth while looking around. "Don't you know anything?" she hissed, her demeanor quickly changing back to the rational being that she was. "You're never supposed to say that word in public. Ever. Do you want them to find out about us?"_

_The pale haired boy stumbled back a little, swiping her hand away from his face. "You mean…you're…"_

"_Magic? Obviously." She replied, their roles reversed. Holding out her hand to him she smiled, "Mika Black, and I'm eight."_

_Recovering from his shock the boy smiled the first one she had seen from him since they met. "Draco Malfoy and I'm eight too. Nice to meet you." He said, taking her hand and shaking it a little._

_With a laugh her grip tightened around his and she began to drag him forward. "Come on!" she said, her eyes lighting up again, the childlike behavior returning. "Let's play!"_

_Draco was hesitant at first, rigid and careful as Mika pranced around him, completely at ease. But as the hours went by and she dragged him to different parts of the park, he soon began to loosen up and was just as carefree as her, laughing and running with her, their voices echoing as dusk began to creep in._

_While the sand castles were being built and as they moved the see saw up and down, both children shared secrets and facts about them to the other. Racing up and down the slide as fast as they could and chasing each other around the park the teasing and conversation continued to flow until both were comfortable with the other as if they had known each other their entire lives. _

"_Come on Draco! You can do it! Reach!" Mika yelled as the boy pushed himself higher and higher on the swing. Night was beginning to fall and there was a definite nip in the air now that made Mika shudder from time to time. _

"_Draco!"_

_A voice cut through the air and the boy froze, his feet dragging along the ground as he came to a halt quickly. Leaping off the swing he looked towards the woman making her way towards the pair. "Yes Mother?"_

"_It's time to go. It's dinner time and your Father will be home soon. We don't want to keep him waiting." Mrs Malfoy looked down at her sons companion and checked her over. "Say goodbye to your little friend and meet me at the apparition point."_

_With that she turned on her heel and began walking away. Hesitantly Draco turned to look at his new friend and gave a shy smile. "That's my mum. I better go otherwise she may leave without me."_

_Mika only nodded, unsure on what to say. "See you here next time?"_

"_Definitely." And with that Draco Malfoy gave one last smirk, a wave and then ran off after his mother, disappearing into the distance. Leaving an eight year old girl alone in the park as the wind blew the swing he had just vacated back and forth feeling as though she had just gained and lost something very important._

"_Have fun?"_

_Hagrid's voice cut through her thoughts and the feeling suddenly disappeared, yet a small hole was still there. Whirling around to look at him she nodded and smiled brightly. "I made a new friend!"_

"_I saw. Well, ready for some food?"_

_As she was about to protest and ask to stay longer her stomach gave a growl and she laughed. "Apparently so!"_

_He grinned and held out his hand to her and she took it happily, walking with her guardian out of the park and away from confusing feelings._

"Oh Draco…" I sigh, as the memory ends and I'm placed back into the present once more. Now that the memory has returned to me I remember what I had been searching for whenever I returned to the park. Always, always, I would make Hagrid take me there and always we would stay until the sun had disappeared from the sky completely. But still he never came; never again did I see him. In desperation to not feel that hurt I realize I must've repressed the memory but now…now it's back.

"Why could I not of remembered this all those years ago?" I whisper into the night, staring out of my window and up into the night sky. The stars twinkled down at me, shinning brightly for me to see. However, some stars were faded and hard to notice because of the light from the moon.

Were those stars like our forgotten memories? Did the light of our newer and happier memories outshine the ones we wanted to forget so that they only appeared to us again when the brighter memories didn't shine so brightly? If so, what happened to cause the light of those happy memories to fade enough for us to see the forgotten ones again?

Shaking my head I decided not to think about, not to dwell on the past. I had experienced something amazing as a child and then promptly forgotten when it became too much for me to bare. How could I just give up on him though? And how I could I have just forgotten everything I ever learnt about Draco Malfoy? If I had remembered, oh if only I had remembered, things would have been so different from what they were. I would have been able to understand him earlier and not have to gone through so much suffering.

A stray tear slips down my cheek and before I can reach up to wipe it away, another hand does it for me. "What are you doing up at this time of night? And why are you crying? What's wrong?"

Strong arms wrap around my waist and I lean into my husband's muscular torso and feel myself relax slightly. The past is the past, and no amount of thinking can make me figure out why I didn't remember that until now.

"I remembered something from a long time. From when I was a child." I say, continuing to watch the faded stars as they twinkle dully.

"Oh? What was it about?" he asked, nuzzling his nose into my hair.

"It was about the park. When I was little I used to go to the park a lot and one day I met this most amazing person. But, for some reason, I forgot all about that until now."

"And is this something to cry about?" he asks, his hands now rubbing my sides soothingly, getting me to relax, sleep starting to take over.

"If I had not forgotten…if I had remembered…it would've saved so much heartache during school." I reply. My gaze shifted from the faded starts to the moon, so bright that it filled up the sky and drew your attention to it. Is that why the memories faded away? Because the happier moments, the happier times, attracted our attention more than our sad memories?

He chuckled and kissed the top of my head. "But you managed to survive okay. So I don't think you should worry. Now, back to bed with you."

I nodded and allowed him to pick me up and carry me back to our bed, smiling at the moon one last time, realizing he was right. I, no, we, had made it through. Despite not remembering something that happened years ago everything turned out okay. So perhaps, perhaps, we forget those memories so we can learn as we grow. Perhaps there are things we're not meant to know as children, things we must discover when we are older. Maybe that is why certain memories hide from us, why we let the happier and carefree times overshadow the painful times; because, as mere children, we are not meant to feel that way.

Snuggling into his side I smile and stare at him, meeting his stormy blue eyes with my oceanic ones. He smiled lazily back at me and kissed my forehead gently as my eyes shut and I let sleep overcome me. However, as I drifted off, I'm sure I heard him mutter softly, "It does not matter if you forgot…I remembered for the both of us during that time…I remembered when two young children met at a park and formed an unbreakable bond while playing on swings, one that would last a lifetime…"


End file.
